Fischerspooner Biography

Created in the late 90s by New York, USA-based duo Warren Fischer (composer) and Casey Spooner (lyrics), this performance-art collective crossed over from underground cult status to emerge as leading figures of the briefly popular US electro-punk or electro-clash musical movement. The pair, who had been working together since the beginning of the decade, were joined by a core group of collaborators, including vocalists Lizzy Yoder and Cindy Greene and several dancers and choreographers. The collectives multi-media enterprises, bridging visual and aural media, earned comparisons to the work of 80s UK renegades the KLF. Meanwhile, the heavy use of synthesisers, vocoders and sequencers in their music saw them fêted alongside other 80s-inspired acts such as Crossover and Ladytron on the underground electro-clash scene.

Fischerspooners debut was released on Munichs International DeeJay Gigolo label in 2001. The album, featuring the club favourite Emerge, became an underground hit and prompted a lucrative recording contract with the UKs Ministry Of Sound label. The failure of the album to make a commercial impact on the mainstream charts, coupled with a series of badly-received UK concerts, saw the duo rapidly fall from critical favour. They persevered with their career, however, enlisting the help of ubiquitous songwriter Linda Perry, renaissance man David Byrne, intellectual Susan Sontag and producer Mirwais to record their follow-up album, Odyssey.

Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.